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Session Proposals for ProductPotluck Austin: January 2010
Session 1: "A New Value in Use Analysis Approach to Product Pricing and Marketing"
Session Description:
Determining the proper price for a new product in the marketplace is one of the most fundamental issues that a commercial manager has to deal with today. In this paper we present a new approach to map the value and price space for a product or service called the "Value Box". This new tool combines the conventional pricing approaches such as cost-plus alongside more sophisticated methods such as cost-in-use and value-in-use. The Value Box allows the Commercial Manager to properly define marketing and pricing strategy as well as communicate it to his/her team and management. The tool will be demonstrated with examples such as hybrid cars, premium razor blades and the Segway scooter. Marketing research methods to determine the value-in-use of a product will also be discussed
Attendees will learn:
1. An overview of the tools used to measure product value
2. The difference between setting pricing using cost in use vs. value in use
3. A new pricing tool, the Value Box, used to map the value/price space and develop pricing strategy
The workshop will include request input from the Audience to complete or validate some of the tools and examples shown
Presenter:
Dr. Jose A. Briones is currently the Director of Operations for SpyroTek Performance Solutions which supplies specialty materials, software and consulting services to the manufacturing industry. Dr. Briones has 18 years of technical and commercial experience in the manufacturing Industry, holding marketing, innovation, sales, engineering and research positions with several Fortune 500 companies such as Celanese, Elf Atochem, Air Products and Reichhold. Dr. Briones has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Clemson University and is a graduate from the Business Administration Program from Wharton Business School. Dr. Briones’ expertise includes: Product Development and Ideation support, Probabilistic Decision Analysis and Forecasting, Business Model Assessments and Product Portfolio Pricing and Value Analysis.
Session 2: "Salespeople say the darndest things – and it’s your fault!"
Description:
We are constantly amazed at the things salespeople say to prospects and clients and what they try to sell. While we like to blame the sales team for this, it is really our fault. As product managers & marketers, we must own the message and then train the sales team on how to take this message to the market.
In the session, we will have an interactive discussion where we help you to improve upon your message and then define best practices in enabling the sales team to communicate it.
Presenter:
Tom Evans is Principal at Lûcrum Marketing and brings over twenty years of successful hi-tech business experience helping start-ups as well as Fortune 500 companies create and launch winning products. Tom’s experience covers numerous vertical industries, technologies and international markets.
Session 3: "Triumph Over the Tyranny of the Customer"
Description:
Listening to your customers doesn't mean you should do what they say. Sure, you can keep them content by adding a feature or tweaking a behavior, but at what cost? Time, effort, complexity and the usability of your product are at stake. Not to mention your sanity. When a customer tells you about a problem do they tell you how to solve it instead of describing their situation? Ouch, that's bad and it does you both a mighty disservice. It's time to shed those habits and replace them with practices to guide your customers, focusing on what's right instead of implementing what's (not always) easy.
This will be a mixed format session, kicking off with a short, quite possibly irreverent presentation, which will gracefully segue into a roundtable, where we'll pool our horror stories and tips and tricks to avoid customer request traps so you can give your customers what they want, which isn't always what they ask for.
Presenter:
Alex Jones (@baldman), User Experience Manager at Pluck/Demand Media and Ringleader of Refresh Austin, is a passionate community catalyst, technologist and user advocate with extensive experience in Web development, design, strategy and management. As the User Experience Manager at Pluck, he identifies expert solutions to real world user experience challenges to improve and extend the company's social media solutions, which power billions of interactions each month.
In addition to coordinating Refresh Austin, a local group of Web professionals with national ties, Alex lends his expertise and support to Austin technology groups. When time allows, Alex writes about a range of topics on SilverSpider.com, and when time is short he spouts off on Twitter (@BaldMan). He has a driving curiosity, likes to barbecue, and has far more interests than time to explore them.
